Why are Internet Buyers Buying? Or are they?

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By Glenn Houck

RISMEDIA, March 19, 2008–In today’s market, there is a lot of gloom and doom that there are no buyers in the market. At LeadQual, we act as a Rapid Response unit for some of the largest and most sophisticated brokers in the U.S. In providing this service, we instantly respond to thousands of Internet inquiries monthly, quickly determining their likelihood of buying a new home, so that the individual Realtors® receive live transfers of only highly qualified leads.

In speaking with thousands of prospective buyers (and a lot of looky-loos), we often are told the reason that the buyer is actually looking to purchase. It probably won’t surprise any of you to hear that our Response Experts are not hearing reasons like, “Looking for an investment property,” “Looking to flip a condo,” or “Looking for something to knock-down and build a spec home.” Those buyers are not coming online, like they were a few years ago. They are gone. We don’t hear them on the phones.

However, below are some notes from actual leads processed by our Response Experts that give you some insight into the fact that there are still active buyers out there, and they are moving for all the right reasons:

• “My son is starting [high school] next year, and we want to move closer to the school.”
• “I just received a transfer notice, and will be relocating to Seattle. I am renting in Portland, but want to buy something in the new location. I’ll be visiting Seattle in 2 weeks.”
• “We are expecting twins in July, and our apartment lease comes due in September. We’d like to buy a 3 BR town-home or single family home.”
• “We retired last year, and want to move to the Naples area. We’d like something with 2 BR, and hopefully in a golf course community. Not too much maintenance.”
• And, unfortunately, “My husband and I are getting a divorce, and I need to get something small, within the Ft. Worth area.”

Each of these buyers has a motivation to buy, that isn’t dependent on the housing market. Each of these buyers is likely to buy a home, or at least move. And, in each case, these buyers wanted to talk to a Realtor about their home search, after being contacted within moments of filling out an inquiry to view MLS listings online.

The key for our clients is to quickly respond to each and every Internet lead and get the good ones in the hands of a Realtor. This makes the Realtors happy, the buyers happy, and as Internet conversion increases the broker is happy, too.

Glenn Houck, is the co-founder of LeadQual, LLC. LeadQual helps brokers with Paid Search Marketing, SEO and Internet Lead Response, Qualification and Live Transfer. This reduces the cost of getting visitors to broker websites and improves conversion from Internet inquiry to closed home sale.

For more information visit www.LeadQual.com/RealEstate. To contact Glenn Houck e-mail Glenn@LeadQual.com or call (203) 644-1320

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Friday, March 19, 2010